2027: Southeast Must Align With Tinubu To Return To Political Equation – APGA Chairman

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Sly Ezeokenwa, has said supporting President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027 would serve the interests of the Southeast and help restore the region’s place in Nigeria’s political equation.

Ezeokenwa argued that the Southeast must align with the centre and build alliances with other geopolitical zones to improve its chances of producing a Nigerian president in the future.

He maintained that the South should be allowed to complete its remaining four-year tenure through Tinubu, whom he described as the candidate whose re-election would best serve the region’s interests at this time.

The APGA chairman stated this on Wednesday while speaking on ARISE News, where he defended the party’s decision to endorse Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

According to him, the Southeast cannot independently secure victory in a presidential election without forming broader political alliances, given its share of the country’s registered voters.

Ezeokenwa said, “We have our position, and our position is that we have endorsed and we have adopted the candidacy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. That’s a fact.

“Now, we have a critical issue where we have, of course, a proud son of Anambra, the first governor elected on the platform of APGA, who is equally running for this election. But then, in this context, it is better for us to be politically correct as we run down to the 2027 presidential election.”

The APGA chairman’s remarks come amid growing political realignments ahead of the 2027 general election, with some politicians and governors belonging to opposition parties taking positions within Tinubu’s expanded presidential campaign council.

LEADERSHIP reports that Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, alongside the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, have been named state campaign coordinators for the expanded campaign council.

Soludo belongs to APGA, Wike is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), while Adeleke won his re-election as Osun governor in 2026 on the platform of the Accord Party.

Explaining the rationale behind APGA’s position, Ezeokenwa said the party believes the informal power-sharing arrangement between northern and southern Nigeria, which has shaped political calculations since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1999, should be respected.

He said the arrangement, although unwritten, was developed by the promoters of the PDP before the party assumed power in 1999.

“We believe that before the advent of the current Fourth Republic in 1999, the promoters or the people who founded the ruling party then, PDP, came together and crafted an agreement. It was more or less an unwritten agreement on power rotation or power sharing between the North and the South,” he said.

According to him, the South should be allowed to retain the presidency for another four years through Tinubu, rather than disrupt the existing arrangement.

“And we believe that for whatever it is worth, it is the turn of the South. And someone from southern Nigeria, in the person of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is on seat at the moment. And so, the South has an extra four years.

“And it only makes sense that the South, through President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is allowed to complete its tenure,” Ezeokenwa added.

The APGA chairman further argued that the Southeast’s continued political isolation would undermine its long-term ambition of producing a president, insisting that the region must reconsider its political strategy.

He said the party had a responsibility to communicate what it considered the reality of the region’s political circumstances, regardless of how unpopular its position might be.

“And for us as a party, because we believe that it is our job to tell the people the bitter truth, no matter whose ox is gored, or no matter how everybody feels about it,” he said.

Citing recently released voter registration statistics by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Ezeokenwa said the Southeast accounted for approximately 11 per cent of registered voters nationwide, making it difficult for the region to independently produce a president without support from other parts of the country.

He said the figures underscored the need for the Southeast to pursue strategic alliances instead of remaining politically isolated.

“The Southeast as a whole cannot, by its own, make someone the president without the broader coalition of other regions in the country,” he said.

Ezeokenwa maintained that aligning with the federal government and other regions would position the Southeast to negotiate for greater political inclusion and strengthen its prospects of producing a president in the foreseeable future.

“And we believe that for us, as the roadmap to the presidency at any foreseeable future, is for the Southeast to find a way to align with the centre. If we align with the centre and other regions, then we can come back to the question at the appropriate time.

“But for now, it is the turn of the South to complete its remaining four years through the current president, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.

He added that the region had, in his view, been excluded from the country’s political power structure since 2015, arguing that supporting Tinubu’s re-election would provide an opportunity to reverse the trend.

“And we believe that it serves a better interest of the Southeast for us to align with other regions in the country through backing the quest for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to return back to power as a means of bringing the Southeast back to the equation.

“Since 2015, it is our belief that the Southeast has been out of the scheme of things in the country. No matter how anybody feels about it, that is the bitter truth,” the APGA chairman said.